Divorce in a recession | Bellevue divorce attorney

Breaking up in a down real estate market is hard to do.  In most divorce cases, the house is the largest asset to be split between husband and wife and typically, one party relied on the share of the equity in the home awarded as part of the property division to get a fresh start in life.  Now, in the current market, you're lucky if you have any equity in the home.

The recession and bad real estate market has claimed another victim:  those going through a divorce.  We used to fight about who gets to keep the house and now we fight about who gets stuck with the dead cow.  One side effect of the decline in real estate, is that couples are deciding to stay together longer or even make arrangements to live in the same household after divorce sharing the expenses because neither can afford maintain the house on their own.  The husband may live on one floor and the wife on the other not unlike the movie "War of the Roses" where the house is divided by a big white line.  The family home has become a toxic asset.


The flip side of this where one spouse has the financial means to keep the house.  For example:

Josh Kaufman and his wife bought a 6,500-square-foot house outside Cleveland on 5-½ acres that was worth $1.5 million at the market's height.  When they divorced in June, Kaufman knew his wife could not afford to carry the home. The longer the divorce process continued, the more the house depreciated. By the time he assumed the house, its appraised value was half what the couple had put into it; he did not pay her anything for her share.  "From a negotiating standpoint we knew that she couldn't afford to stay in it," Kaufman said. "It appeared as an opportunity to turn the negative situation around. There was no emotion involved. It was a business decision on what made most financial sense. It wasn't an attempt to take advantage of someone."  Still, his lawyer, Andrew Zashin, said, "He bought this house at a bargain-basement price."

Whether the above scenario applies to you or not, you should consult with an experienced Bellevue, Seattle, Washington divorce attorney to provide you with the information you need to make a well informed decision. 

Call the Andrew Kim Law Firm at (425) 289-1990 for a free initial consultation.

Divorcing husband wants kidney back | Bellevue divorce attorney

49 year old Dr. Richard Batista from Ronkonkoma, New York was married to Dawnell Batista and they had three children now ages 14, 11 and 8. 

His wife needed a kidney transplant and so Dr. Batista gave her one of his, even though their marriage was on the rocks at that time.  "My first priority was to save her life," Batista said. "The second bonus was to turn the marriage around."

After Dawnell Batista filed for a divorce, Dr. Batista changed his mind and wanted his kidney back as part of his property settlement demand or the value of that kidney which he estimated to be worth $1.5 million.

It is highly unlikely if not impossible according to medical ethicists that the husband will either get his kidney back or get money for it.  First and foremost, said Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics, "it's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value." Organs in the United States may not be bought or sold. Donating an organ is a gift and legally "when you give something, you can't get it back," he said.

Nor can you assign a subsequent monetary value to an organ. There's nothing later (you can get) in terms of compensation if you regret your gift.

The Andrew Kim Law Firm, PLLC handles divorce cases involving property disputes, although nothing quite as strange as this one in Seattle, Bellevue, and all Eastside cities of King County, Washington.  Call us at (425) 289-1990 for an initial free consultation.